Part 5: Some Tactics Are More Effective Than Others

When fund companies do reach out, the most effective tactics for shaping advisor opinions on investment managers are through direct means, such as speaking at company events, webinars and participating in firm training programs.

When fund companies do reach out, the most effective tactics for shaping advisor opinions on investment managers are through direct means, such as speaking at company events, webinars and participating in firm training programs. Even though one in four (24%) advisors still find conference calls to be very effective, there is a steep dropoff in perceived effectiveness as tactics become less direct. Not surprisingly, voicemails (5%), generic emails (4%) and radio ads (4%) barely register as effective.

Consistent with the above results, advisors prefer to receive information about product updates, new product launches and value-added programs through inperson meetings (avg of all three update types: 45%) and hard-copy materials (avg 38%) more than most other channels, including webinars (avg 32%), conference calls (avg 26%), phone calls (avg 22%) and social media (avg includes Facebook and Twitter results: 4%).

In a seeming departure from trend, however, advisors strongly prefer to receive product updates via email (avg 57%). One potential reason: Email ranked high as a way to receive even company updates (55%), something advisors indicated isn’t a priority in other parts of the survey. As such, email likely is the preferred channel for product updates because it can be read, or ignored, at an advisor’s convenience.